Corporate Accountability on Artificial Intelligence
5 DECEMBER | IN PERSON & ONLINE
4PM GMT / 6PM SAST | 5 DECEMBER | IN PERSON & ONLINE
Join us for a special hybrid investor seminar jointly hosted by Sarasin & Partners and the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) Digital Collective Impact Coalition on Tuesday 5 December.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the responsible and ethical use of this technology has never been more critical.
Corporations around the world are at the forefront of developing and deploying AI solutions, making their investors key stakeholders in ensuring AI is used for the benefit of humanity. This seminar is designed to foster a deep and collaborative dialogue on the responsibilities corporations have in the development and deployment of AI systems that uphold ethical standards.
Register to join us onlineThe objective of the seminar will be to discuss the outcomes of the Global AI Safety Summit that happened in the United Kingdom (UK) on 1-2 November and it's key takeaways for investors' engagement activities.
Specific thematic focus points include:
- Risk categorisation, for example in the EU AI Act, or in the UK Government AI Summit paper and proposals for controls made for the AI Safety Summit – how universal is it?
- How can investors monitor and assess the risk exposure of both developers of AI platforms and their users. How can we monitor progress on commitments that they make, e.g., the commitment that the top AI companies made in the White House in July 2023.
- What are reasonable investor expectations? What are the key AI governance asks for companies? What policy measures should investors advocate for?
- What engagement and escalation tools and techniques investors should use?
Ethical AI is a critical area of digital inclusion where more progress is needed, as identified in the WBA’s Digital Inclusion Benchmark (DIB). Out of 200 technology companies assessed in 2022-2023, only 52 have reported a publicly available framework for ethical AI as of September 2023. The lack of voluntary adoption of ethical AI principles ultimately points to the need for multi-stakeholder collaborations to create awareness around this issue and drive systemic change.
The Collective Impact Coalition (CIC) for Digital inclusion provides a space for WBA Allies and stakeholders to take forward cross-sector, collaborative engagement action based on data and evidence provided by DIB. Please see more information about the CIC for Digital inclusion below.
AGENDA
3.45pm GMT - Arrival - teas & coffees
4.00pm GMT / 6pm SAST - online event begins
Welcome:
- Julia Shatikova, Ownership Lead, Sarasin & Partners
- Nikki Gwilliam-Beeharee, Investor Engagement Lead, WBA
4.05pm GMT / 6.05pm SAST - Fireside chat: Recognized AI expert(s) will deliver insights on the outcomes of the Global AI Summit and their importance for policy work and investor stewardship driving corporate accountability in AI safety.
- Led and moderated by Howard Covington: the Honorary Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, and its ex-founder and Chair
- Seán Ó hÉigeartaigh, Programme Director of AI: Futures and Responsibility of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) at the University of Cambridge. He also helped shape the CFI AI Safety Policies assessment framework that was developed in the running to the Glbal AI Safety Summit.
- Dr Maurice Chiodo, Research Associate, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), University of Cambridge. Maurice is the author of The Cambridge University Ethics in Mathematics Project.
4.45pm GMT / 6.45pm SAST - Investor panel discussion: our panelists will engage in a discussion on the future focus and techniques of investor engagements with companies and policymakers.
- Josh Sambrook-Smith, Technology Analyst and Portfolio Manager, Sarasin & Partners
- Asad Butt, Investment Stewardship Lead, HSBC Asset Management
- Nikki Gwilliam-Beeharee, Investor Engagement Lead, WBA
- Asset owner representative
- One more asset manager representative
Each session will be followed by Q&A
5.30pm GMT / 7.30pm SAST - Closing remarks (online event ends)
5.35pm-6.15pm - Drinks and canapés
VENUE
If you would like to join us in-person, the event will be held at Sarasin & Partners, Juxon House, 100 St Paul's Churchyard, London, EC4M 8BU. Please note that spaces are very limited, and will be given on a first-come-first-served basis; you will receive a confirmation email confirming your place at the seminar. If spaces are not available, we will send you the link to join online.
ZOOM
If you would like to join us online, the seminar will run from 4pm-5.30pm UK GMT / 6pm-7.30pm SAST on Zoom. Please register above and you will receive the necessary link to join.
Our co-host:
The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) is a non-profit organisation that assesses and ranks the world’s most influential companies’ performance on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We publish publicly available and free benchmarks that inform and empower business leaders and investors, as well as governments, civil society and other key stakeholders. WBA insights aim to serve as an accountability mechanism, incentivising companies to become successful drivers of change and deliver on the SDGs. Together with our Alliance, we are building a movement that enables transparent dialogue, and ultimately action towards a more inclusive, fair and sustainable world.
About the Collective Impact Coalition for Digital Inclusion
The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) launched the Collective Impact Coalitions (CICs) in 2021, to provide a space for Allies and stakeholders to take forward cross-sector, collaborative action based on data and evidence provided by WBA benchmarks. These CICs are multi-stakeholder and timebound, bringing together diverse actors from large institutional investors to civil society, academia and business platforms to coordinate and collaborate on actions to drive positive changes on systematically important topics. These CICs are key to ensuring corporate accountability on sustainable development.
Since 2022, the Collective Impact Coalition for Digital Inclusion has been focusing on driving measurable progress on corporate commitment to ethical AI principles, especially among the digital technology companies who were found to be lacking such a commitment. In doing so, the Coalition encourages a positive change in industry business practices, enhancing business responsibility for an inclusive and trustworthy digital transformation.
Investor participants in the Digital CIC Co-led by Fidelity International and Boston Common Asset Management have already kicked off a collaborative engagement to drive adoption of ethical AI principles among the companies in their portfolio, see here for the Investor Statement on Ethical AI.
The civil society group of the Digital CIC led by Women at the Table has been involved in awareness creation events on the topic and have also published a joint statement calling on the tech companies to commit to responsible development and application of AI, guided by ethics, respect for human rights and the principle of leaving no one behind.
The Coalition published its first progress report on September 14, 2023, charting the progress of the campaign on its first anniversary, and distilling common trends in companies’ responses to engagement by investors under the campaign. The report also provides new, preliminary data on the state of the tech industry’s commitments to ethical AI. Going forward, there will be more CIC actions happening, including holding awareness creation events, online campaigns among others.
